DESCRIPTION (adapted from the application) The Stanford University GI training fellowship offers research opportunities that cover diverse investigative fields. In the GI division proper, active programs include: (a) the molecular determinants of pathogenesis and host immunity for viruses that infect the liver or GI tract (Glenn, Greenberg, Matsui), (b) the regulation of lipoproteins and lipids in the liver and intestine (Cooper, Levy-Wilson), (c) cellular oncogenesis and the role of c-src in intestinal cell differentiation/transformation (Cartwright), (d) function and disease association of digestive epithelial cytoskeletal proteins (Omary), (e) the molecular basis for intracellular vesicular sorting in the exocrine pancreas (Lowe), (f) controlled clinical trials of vaccines/antiviral therapy, and evaluation of liver transplantation outcomes (Garcia, Keeffe, Soetikno), (g) clinical and molecular studies of Barrett's esophagus (Omary, Triadafilopoulos), and (h) development and testing of novel endoscopic diapostic and therapeutic modalities (Van Dam, Soetikno). In addition to these research areas, fellows are encouraged to explore and take advantage of ongoing research in the programs of affiliated faculty including health policy, outcomes, microbiology, pathology, immunology and developmental biology. The trainees are individuals who have completed internal medicine or pediatric residencies and a year of clinical GI training in our own program and are interested in developing skills in bench and/or clinical research. Other trainees include physicians trained in other specialties, or postdoctoral Ph.D. trainees, who wish to pursue GI research. The training program has expanded in the past five years with the addition of a liver transplant program, the growth of existing programs and a recent NIH-funded Digestive Disease Center. We are also actively recruiting for additional faculty members to add to the recent appointment of two new faculty members (Van Dam with expertise in spectral endoscopy; Gerson with outcomes research training). At present, we have a program that includes a minimum of two years of research training (frequently 3 to 5 years) that enrolls two to four new trainees per year. We have several outstanding candidate trainees who can be enrolled. The training is provided by faculty whose laboratories are located within close proximity (5-15 minutes) to each other at Stanford University, the Palo Alto VA Hospital and the Palo Alto Research Foundation. All laboratories are well equipped, with over seven thousand square feet of state-of-the-art laboratory space currently occupied by the GI division.